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Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

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Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#111

Post by smcg »

jaynos wrote: post #85
serve_yay wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father has been a sales guy for a long time, and he got into playing golf for this reason. He never liked watching sports, which if you're in sales is a bit of a handicap. He doesn't even know the rules of a football game. So the golf gave him something in that space to talk with others about, without having to keep on top of sports news. Plus it's OK if you suck at golf, everyone you're playing with sucks too. An…

I've always been a football fan, but never cared too much for baseball, basketball, or hockey (probably because the season has too many games and it's hard to maintain interest). When I was doing construction sales, I made sure to scan the sports page every morning to ensure I had a few tidbits to throw out about every sport. Worked like a charm, especially in construction.

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#112

Post by jpindar »

ojbyrne wrote: post #71
solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

I have always been a sports fan, but I really dislike the giant subsidies given to billionaires, to the point where it just feels like a giant con. Not only is everything over priced, but there's a vast array of tax breaks and hidden subsidies that the working class pays for.

Do you feel the same way about the music and movie industries?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#113

Post by Goronmon »

timr wrote: post #94
solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

"When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills." That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste? How about this: "when you show overt contempt for fast food, you are showing contempt for most everybody, and that is a problem with your social skills." If I don't eat at McD…

That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste?

Whats funny is that you could actually bring up this topic with fans of mainstream sports (especially for the NFL) and probably get a decent discussion going. Just mention things like TV timeouts and you'll probably get some level of agreement on how annoying things have gotten these days.

Of course, if you phrase it in a way similar to how you did above, people will most likely just think you were an asshole.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#114

Post by CocaKoala »

solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

>When a kids says, "Hockey. Meh. It is a bunch grown men with sticks chasing a black piece of rubber around a sheet of ice"

When somebody says that, you just have to rephrase them a'la T-Rex. "It's a bunch of scientists stating their hypothesis that they're the best at using wooden sticks to direct the motion of a vulcanized rubber puck across a surface with a friction coefficient of .15!" [1] and then hockey becomes a collaborative science experiment, repeated twice a week, and broadcast on television.

[1]: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2421

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#115

Post by chez17 »

solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

So I'm not allowed to dislike sports? It makes me a snob?

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#116

Post by timr »

Goronmon wrote: post #113
timr wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills." That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste? How about this: "when you show overt contempt for fast food, you are showing contempt for most everybody, and that is a problem with your social skills." If I don't eat at McD…

That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste? Whats funny is that you could actually bring up this topic with fans of mainstream sports (especially for the NFL) and probably get a decent discussion going. Just mention things like TV timeouts and you'll probably get some level of agreement on how annoying things have gotten these days. Of course, if y…

"Of course, if you phrase it in a way similar to how you did above, people will most likely just think you were an asshole."

Of course, a similar thought most likely crossed my mind when I read the parent comment.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#117

Post by toolz »

timr wrote: post #94
solson wrote: post #20

When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills. It's called being a snob. The disdain for working class culture among academics was part of the reason I choose not to pursue a formal higher education. I suspect this overt snootiness keeps many gifted working class kids from participating in higher education. I grew up working class and w…

"When you show overt contempt for sports you are showing contempt for most everybody and that is problem with your social skills." That's nice. What other corporate products must I consume in order to be a validated member of your social caste? How about this: "when you show overt contempt for fast food, you are showing contempt for most everybody, and that is a problem with your social skills." If I don't eat at McD…

Exactly. Sports aren't a healthy part of society. They are games mean to occupy the less curious people of our culture so they don't get bored and dissatisfied with their existence. There is nothing healthy about sports culture. The socialization is entirely tribal and the impact on humanities future is non-existent.

Imagine if we game all our attention and praise to teachers and all of our money to successful charities. Imagine if it was a cutthroat competition to become the first team of intellectuals to solve today's difficult problems.

Just because a vocal majority aren't hurting anyone, doesn't mean I have some moral obligation to respect your choices that do nothing for anyone.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#118

Post by Aloisius »

graeme wrote: post #58

I played sports in school, and have no problem understanding them. But watching sports doesn't interest me. This doesn't seem to cause me problems. I can talk to working class people about other topics easily. I also have no reason to go around bashing sports, so this helps I'm sure. One thing I've noticed is that it does block me from being close friends with certain men. Because their favorite leisure activity is w…

This matches my experience as well. I still enjoy playing certain sports, but watching them, especially on TV, bores me to tears. It always has.

It has certainly affected bonding with other men as well.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#119

Post by tessierashpool »

Cognitive dissonance: the phrase "cultivated disinterest" precedes the sentence "With a little effort, getting into sports is easy."

I'm not saying that looking down on people for their interests isn't small-minded or awful. But I definitely disagree with the idea that you have to cultivate a lack of interest in a topic.

Also, consider this instead: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case...

As a first-generation American, the fact that you're more likely to pay for college with a sports scholarship than an academic one seems completely insane to me.

Re: Cultivated Disinterest in Professional Sports

#120

Post by te_platt »

This doesn't just apply to sports. Most people don't share my enthusiasm for math and science but most people are enthusiastic about something. I enjoy asking people what they do for fun, or about an interesting (to them) project they may be working on. Almost any topic can be interesting when explained by someone with the right passion. Even if I don't especially care about a given topic it's not too much work to appreciate why someone else might, which is a good way to avoid being a snobbish jerk.
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